Zerocoin

A project by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, Zerocoin started as a proposed extension to ‘the Bitcoin payment network that adds anonymity to Bitcoin payments.’

However due to unwillingness by the Bitcoin Foundation to incorporate untried systems into the cryptocurrency, plus political worries that increasing anonymity in a currency which already makes governments very nervous would make Bitcoin too controversial, the Zerocoin creators have taken the bold move of turning Zerocoin into a standalone currency. As Forbes explains,

zerocoin

‘That new freedom allowed Zerocoin’s coders to take full advantage of a decades-old mathematical scheme called a “zero-knowledge proof,” which makes it possible to prove that a mathematical statement is true without revealing the content of the computation. Thanks to that seemingly magical trick, Zerocoins can act as sealed envelopes of cash that can be combined, split, or spent without either revealing the value of the cash inside those envelopes or their path through the network, all while still protecting against fraud and forgery.’

Zerocoin is slated to enter circulation in May 2014 ‘in some sort of beta program’.